h is for heatwave

seattle is baking. it is expected to be in the 90's all this week. cooling down, finally, on saturday with a high of 84. we are not used to such heat. without an air conditioner most of the time spent indoors involves being still, not touching anyone, and skimpy (if any) clothing. i'm thinking about buying a fan to make it more tolerable. the worst part is that turning on the oven can result in the indoor temprature to soring to 85. therefore, no cooking until it cools down. tonight will be a crusty baguette, with an herb and garlic cheese, topped with tomatoes, basil, and balsamic vinegar/olive oil.

even though it has been so hot, we are still spending time outdoors (summer only comes once a year, right?) we even rented a row boat on saturday and paddled around union bay. it was a nice workout with lots of sweat, but fun. sunday was a birthday bbq (i've lost count of the number of bbqs i've been to this summer, but all with both good food and company). i hope wherever you are...you are staying cool.

etsy

i usually do not like to advertise for companies. i figure if the service/product is good enough it should speak for itself. however, i'm going to make an exception because i'm just so enamored with this one. etsy.com is a website that provides a way for people to buy and sell vintage and handmade items online. items sold range from homemade cookies to candles, to knitting & sewing, to jewelry, to statues, to photography. almost anything you can think of. even if the recession has you down and you really can't buy anything, it is fun to browse and see just how unique many of the items are.

for the longest time i've been wanting a tree necklace. don't ask why, it's a little complicated and probably wouldn't make sense. but i've wanted one. a specific one that was in my head, but i hadn't seen anything like it in the stores, or even looking online. until recently. i came across a beautiful one on etsy. it was exactly like the one i had imagined. and what made it better is that it was handmade by megan leigh designs. it arrived yesterday in a beautiful ribbon wrapped box with a hand written note by the designer. it wasn't mass produced in some factory in asia.

do you have a gift giving occasion coming up? give etsy a look. a bonus is that because you are buying directly from the producer the price is usually very reasonable.

wingardium leviosa

the werst household had a fabulous weekend. saturday was a wee bit sad, as we had to say goodbye to our friends the morgans. they will be moving this week to tennessee. there was a fun picnic at volunteer park where tons of friends came to play games and wish them well. tennessee is seriously lucking out on this one. it is the begining of many our friends leaving. a sad fact, over the next year many more will be earning their phd's and leaving. soon it will be us.

to cheer ourselves up we went to see harry potter and the half-blood prince. I was wowed over, and aaron thought "it was good, not great". it really made me glad to not be 16 again. i wouldn't mind being a wizard though. interestingly, i believe this was the first time in two years i had been to a movie theater.

sunday i got some "barbie time" in the morning. i think i require more alone time than most. i recharged with some knitting and breakfast at tiffany's. then had a fun-filled afternoon that involved crab rangoon, beer, pool, pizza, and bocci in the park. does it get much better than that?

bargain betty

what is it about a deal that makes me feel so seriously clever? after work today, i made a little detour downtown to see if i could find any jeans on sale. i got two pairs of jeans that actually fit for $30 (originally, these two items would have cost $90). to celebrate i proceeded to buy the $4.50 body spray, grass, by gap. self indulgent, i know, but i love gap fragrances. they are so fresh and clean.

saturday ramblings

aaron is driving up the pacific coast this weekend (jealous sigh). so what is a girl to do? basically all the things she has been procrastinating for days, and in some instances, weeks. so far today i've exercised (using my favorite workout dvd), cleaned the house, got my hair cut/colored, and now i'm painting my toenails, doing some laundry, knitting, and roasting some beets. pretty exciting, huh? i really know how to live it up when the boy is gone...i've loved every bit of it, minus the house cleaning.

on the agenda for tomorrow, bike ride to buffalo exchange to maybe splurge on some clothes, give myself a manicure, followed by some more knitting, and watch a movie or two. of the following, which do you recommend? the apartment, manhattan, or bridget jones' diary?

i do love the occasional solo weekend to get things done...but i'll be looking forward to his return.

pass me my nephew, please

my little brother, larry, is getting married october 3rd. this makes me happy. i also really like his future wife, tawny. this makes me even happier. the fact that i will get to see them both - not to mention the most-adorable-nephew-in-the-world, kainen, makes me positively joyous!

today we bought two round-trip plane tickets from seattle to denver for the low price of $278! isn't that ridiculously cheap? i nearly fell off my chair when aaron showed me the deal he found. we will still need to rent a car to drive from denver to bogue, but i'm not too worried about that. what i am worried about? how much nephew spoiling i can fit into 5 days?

independence day

i hope everyone had a great 4th of july! to celebrate aaron and i had dinner with some friends and then walked to campus where we viewed the spectacular fireworks on top of the atg building. it was great to be able to watch the show without fighting the swarms of people (50,000!) that usually gather at gasworks to take part in the event.

try, try again

in a previous post aaron and i tried to backpack to peek-a-boo lake. we were thwarted by too much snow and an impending thunderstorm, remember? well, we tried it again last friday and success was ours. we left seattle semi-early (7:20 ish) and began the 3 mile hike at 9:30 or so. the trail did get lost under the snow again, but our expert boy-scout was able to find the way regardless. the alpine lake was beautiful, the views breathtaking, and the bugs annoying. my favorite part was probably the campfire. i love campfires, you can't beat them for cozy. we left camp without breakfast the next morning, due to the abundance of mosquitoes. after hiking a bit to a less buggy area, we enjoyed some jerky and trail mix while taking in this view. nice, right?